Spaun’s biggest fairytale moment came in Texas on Sunday when he emerged from a jam-packed leaderboard.
SAN ANTONIO — Growing up in Southern California, J.J. Spaun’s fondest childhood memories came at Disneyland, a place he remembers roaming as a preschooler and later enjoyed while holding a season’s pass as an adult.
But Spaun’s biggest fairytale moment came in Texas on Sunday when the former San Diego State University star — who turned pro nearly a decade ago — emerged from a jam-packed leaderboard to capture his first PGA Title, holding off Matt Jones, Beau Hossler and others to take the Valero Texas Open.
In his 147th Tour start, Spaun followed a double-bogey on the opening hole with solid, if unspectacular play, holding steady in a stiff Texas breeze while others faded. With the victory, he earned his first berth to the Masters, which starts this week in Augusta, Georgia. He shot a 69 on Sunday and finished the event at 13 under.
Spaun entered this week with just 11 career top-10 finishes and was a 150-1 shot to win, but he watched as a number of other players flamed out and calmly drained a number of mid-sized par putts to stay in the lead.
The 242nd-ranked player in the world coming into the event, Spaun played defensive down the stretch — hitting iron off the tee on the risk/reward 17th hole and making par with a four-foot putt. He made things interesting on the final hole, pulling his drive left down a hill on a par-5, but Spaun played safely out of the rough and avoided any major mishaps.
Matt Kuchar, who was two down on the final hole, went for the green on the par-5 and dropped his second shot in the water.
By virtue of an impressive 66, Matt Jones finished tied for runner-up with Kuchar at 11 under, although he’d finished nearly two hours before Spaun did. Canadian Adam Hadwin was third at 10 under, tied with Troy Merritt and Charles Howell III.
Among the others who made noise on Sunday were Keegan Bradley — who shot a 66 to get into the conversation early at 9 under, before the pack kept pulling away from him — and former Texas star Hossler, who was tied for the lead to start the day but scrambled all day and finally fell out of contention with a double-bogey on the 14th hole.
When asked about his round, the 2015 Masters champ said he needs to work on one facet of his game.
SAN ANTONIO — To follow Jordan Spieth at a PGA Tour event is like walking into one of those escape rooms where players discover clues, solve puzzles and try to find their way out of a scenario — you have no idea what you’ll encounter but you’re likely to be wildly entertained.
With many of the biggest names failing to make the cut at the Valero Texas Open, the former Texas Longhorn star drew some of the biggest galleries during Sunday’s final round at TPC San Antonio, and those who made the trek were treated to vintage Jordan.
Case in point — Spieth just missed the green on the risk-reward 17th hole on Sunday, then did something only he could do. First, the 12-time PGA Tour winner got creative with his chip from a gulley, but when he tried to use the side of a hill leading up to the green, the ball bounced awkwardly into a sprinkler head.
Spieth followed by chatting the ears off of playing partners Corey Conners and Ben Martin, circling the ball, asking for opinions and then calling a rules official in before moving his ball.
And after all that drama, Spieth calmly dropped a 13-footer for birdie, part of an uneven but captivating final round that sets the stage for his trip to Augusta National. Spieth had five birdies and no bogeys, rolling his way to a 67 and finishing the tournament at 5 under.
When asked about his round, the 2015 Masters champ said he needs to work on one facet of his game if he’s to don another green jacket.
“I just have to address putting, that’s it,” he said matter-of-factly.
“I mean, I missed nine putts inside of six feet this week. That’s really, really bad. So I’ve got to figure out a stroke feel that gets me comfortable everywhere. I missed a lot of mid-rangers, too. It was the worst I’ve ever putted in a professional event.”
Opponents best beware that they don’t want to tangle with the Tennessee native on the final five holes.
SAN ANTONIO — There’s just something that fits his eye, tickles his fancy, releases any jitters. Whatever it is, the closing stretch at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course simply works for Brandt Snedeker.
And as he heads into the final round tied for the lead at the Valero Texas Open, his opponents best beware that they don’t want to tangle with the Tennessee native on the final five holes if things are close.
Snedeker used another hot stretch on the final portion of the card Saturday, posting three birdies on the final five holes to finish his day with a 67. After playing the last five holes in 8 under through the last two days, he now sits at 10 under, tied with J.J. Spaun and former Texas Longhorns Beau Hossler and Dylan Frittelli for the lead.
The affable Snedeker, known primarily for his short game, has uncharacteristically struggled a bit with his putter this week but has made up for it by hitting the course’s wide fairways, all despite swirling winds. For example, he played the final hole — a par-5 — smart and smooth, laying up to 125 yards for his approach and then sticking his third shot into 12 feet.
And although he missed the putt, he still feels the final portion of the course could help him, if he needs a push on Sunday. He hasn’t been in the winner’s circle since the 2018 Wyndham Championship when he posted a comfortable three-stroke victory.
“(The final five holes) set up really well for me. I’ve got a good history there it seems like over the last few times I played here,” said Snedeker, who has finished in the top 25 in each of his previous four starts at this event, including a sixth-place finish last year. “I like the way they set up and I just feel really comfortable on them. And those are all birdie holes. You’re going to have to birdie a lot of those holes to go on and win this week. So I was able to kind of take advantage of it yesterday, got hot, and today I hit a bunch of quality shots coming in.
“Wish I could have made that up on 18, but besides that, I’ll be able to pull on that tomorrow coming down the stretch. If I need to make some birdies, I know I can do it, I’ve done it. So hopefully I won’t need to, but if I do, I know it will be there.”
Beau Hossler takes a tee shot on the first hole during the third round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Meanwhile, Hossler also has had success at TPC San Antonio, making the cut in the last three years.
While Snedeker has struggled with his putter, Hossler has used a hot flatstick to get to the top of the leaderboard, something that was customary for him his first few years on Tour, but has failed him in recent seasons.
And as someone who played collegiately up I-35 in Austin, Hossler knows how special this would be, to win the 100th-anniversary edition of the event. This week has seen a number of the former champions — Ben Crenshaw, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, etc. — floating around the grounds as part of the celebration.
But Hossler is still looking for his debut victory on the PGA Tour and is playing on a sponsor exemption, meaning he’s trying to put the historic perspective aside.
“I just can’t get into that. To be honest, I’ll take a win at any tournament, right?” he said. “So it would be awesome. I mean, I went to college and I live an hour and 10 minutes away from here. With that said, if I start thinking about that, I’m in big trouble. So I’m just going to go out and play some golf tomorrow and hopefully, that’s enough.”
On a balmy, blustery day, a pair of Texas veterans showed what it takes to navigate those conditions.
SAN ANTONIO — Organizers of the Valero Texas Open have long been planning a birthday party for Friday night, one with an impressive guest list that includes past champions Ben Crenshaw, Tom Watson, Hale Irwin, Lee Trevino and former PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman, who won the event in 1969.
The cause for celebration is the tournament’s 100th anniversary, which makes it the longest-running event still played in the same city.
Since a birthday party of this magnitude is sure to come with plenty of candles, it seemed appropriate that Friday’s conditions included a healthy dose of wind to help extinguish those candles.
On a balmy, blustery day, a pair of Texas veterans showed what it takes to navigate such conditions as native son Ryan Palmer and adopted favorite Dylan Frittelli had little trouble shooting up the leaderboard while others struggled at the TPC San Antonio Oaks Course.
When the day was done, Palmer — who played at Texas A&M University and lived in San Antonio for three years — was atop the leaderboard, posting a bogey-free 66 that put him at 10 under through the second round.
Frittelli, a former star at the University of Texas who now makes his home in Austin, kept pace with Palmer, also finishing the day with a 66. He sits in a tie for second with Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell at 8 under.
When asked about how he felt, Palmer said an invigorated game off the tee had him feeling right at home.
“Awesome,” he said. “Bogey-free on this golf course is good any day, but when you throw in the winds we had, it makes it that much more special. I’m excited with the way I’m driving the ball again. I spent the last month and a half really struggling and my results have kind of shown. I’m able to take the left side of the golf course out of play now and I brought it here this week and it’s showing.
“My driver’s back to where it was a year ago, my game’s where it was I feel like a year ago, my mind and it’s showing.”
Ryan Palmer waits to take a putt on the 18th hole during the second round of the Valero Texas Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
Lucas Glover was another player who finished the day with a 66 and he sits three shots behind Palmer. He said the winds were just enough to mess with players on Thursday and even more difficult on Friday, but he felt the gusts were more consistent in the second round and that helped him find his way.
“Light and variable, you’re like all right, it’s not much wind, but yesterday it was enough to where it bugged you and it was just tricky I would say, coming out of different spots,” Glover said. “Today, we knew where it was going to be. I guess we’re all somewhat type A, we like to go ahead and plan ahead and know where it’s going to be, so easier to do that when we know where it is.”
Another player who survived the day was J.J, Spaun, who is 7 under heading into the weekend. But Spaun fell victim to the winds late in his day, dropping three shots on his final four holes.
“It was kind of blowing all day, but then it picked up heavier,” Spaun said. “It just made it tougher to hit fairways and keep you guessing. Most of it was like crosswinds, too, so you know, if you started too far in one direction, you can short-side yourself. It definitely picked up our last seven, eight holes.”
Wind or no wind, Palmer was just happy to be in a comfort zone, with temperatures near 90 — like they would traditionally be — while enjoying a little Texas love.
“I love it,” he said of the event. “I like it because it’s not easy. It’s a ball-striker’s golf course and if I’m driving it well, I feel like I’ve got a good chance. With the old driver back in the bag, I’m able to hit tee shots I’m used to seeing and not worry about missing in certain areas and it’s showing off this week.”
“I would love to win and get to play next week, that’s obviously why I’m here.”
Russell Knox knows he has to win the Valero Texas Open to earn an invitation into next week’s Masters.
A tall order, indeed.
Sort of like climbing Mount Everest, if you will, considering how tough it is to win, period, and considering his history in the event. He missed his last three cuts at the Valero and his best finish in six starts was a tie for 26th.
And the Scot hasn’t won since the 2018 Irish Open and hasn’t tasted victory on the PGA Tour since the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, his second title.
So, of course, Knox, ranked 169th in the official world rankings, went out and shot a bogey-free, 7-under-par 65 Thursday in the first round on the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio. It was the first time in 19 rounds he’s broken 70 in the event.
“Obviously thrilled with the round,” Knox said. “I took care of business off the tee, which was nice. Obviously, this course, if you get offline, it can be very penal. So I drove the ball well, iron play was solid again and just a couple of those good luck moments starting the round kind of got my momentum nice.”
Those would include a chip-in on the seventh and superb up-and-downs on the sixth and ninth holes.
“Those were kind of the key parts that allowed me to kind of settle into the back nine and have some easier birdies,” Knox said.
As the afternoon wave began play, Knox was the leader in the clubhouse. While he’s taken a significant fall in the world rankings from a career-high rank of 18th in 2017, he’s played well of late – a tie for sixth in The Players Championship and a tie for seventh in the Sony Open in Hawaii this year.
“It’s been more kind of the way I want to play golf. I’ve been a little more consistent tee to green. I’m back to kind of feeling like the way I should be playing, which has been nice,” he said. “Sometimes when you’re putting in work and you don’t get results, it’s very demoralizing. But it’s nice, I’ve practiced hard and I’m starting to see some benefits.”
And he has an envied temperament.
“I would love to win and get to play next week, that’s obviously why I’m here,” said Knox, who missed the cut in 2016 and 2017 in his only Masters appearances. “I know my game is good so I’ve got to keep playing and see if I can have a great finish. It would be the biggest bonus of the year, obviously, if that happened, but no, I’m quite happy to sit on the couch with my dog next week, too.
“But I mean, I’m going to try my hardest to finish first this week.”
“I want a 10‑day stretch of peaking from Thursday through the next Sunday.”
Jordan Spieth has been down this Texas road before.
A year ago, the Dallas native drove to the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio for the Valero Texas Open without having won since the 2017 Open Championship, the third of his three major triumphs.
The drive was far from depressing despite going 83 events without winning, for his form was on an encouraging uptick. After dropping to 92nd in the official world rankings a month into 2021 – his worst rank since 2012 – the former world No. 1 registered five top-15 finishes in six starts ahead of the Valero Texas Open.
The grind – his term to describe the exhaustive hours of work he put into his craft trying to regain his best form – was paying dividends. And he cashed in at TPC San Antonio with rounds of 67-70-67-66 to finish 18 under and two shots clear of the field for his 12th PGA Tour title.
Spieth was back.
Jordan Spieth holds the trophy after winning the Valero Texas Open. (Photo: Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports)
But he’s been stuck on 12 wins and he’s once again looking to end a victory drought heading into this week’s Valero Texas Open. He’s made 20 starts since winning, with only five top 10s (although he finished runner-up in the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the 2021 Open Championship, and the 2021 Charles Schwab Challenge).
Unlike a year ago, however, Spieth is struggling heading into his title defense. A tie for 26th in the Genesis Invitational is his best finish in his last four starts.
“I feel like this year I’ve been actually striking the ball better than I was coming in last year throughout 2022, thus far,” Spieth said Tuesday at TPC San Antonio. “I’ve got a little bit to show for it, but not a ton and a lot of that just comes down to knocking putts in. So I’ve just got to get a little sharper on the greens.”
Maybe more than a little. Spieth, who has had to adjust his life away from the golf course since he and his wife, Annie, welcomed their first child, son, Sammy, into the world on November 11, ranks 141st in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA Tour, 90th in Total Putting, and 105th in Putting Average.
But he remains patient – as he did while enduring his nearly four-year winless stretch.
“I arrived back here and I don’t think about the first however many times I’ve played this place; last year is really what comes to mind,” Spieth said. “It was just a really cool week because it was just a monkey off the back, less about what I put on myself and more about just having to answer the questions and I just kind of got annoyed with that, because I was playing really well and the difference in finishing third or fourth sometimes is simply a bad wind gust or a couple putts that you did nothing wrong on.
“I overreacted to that in the past and I didn’t last year and I think it led to being successful on Sunday.”
Also in Spieth’s favor is his affection for the windswept Oaks Course.
“The golf course itself is such a challenge,” he said. “You normally have to play it in wind, you normally have to play it in different winds, so you almost play two different golf courses. You’ve got to flight the ball, got to shot-make, got to be really precise with your distance control into these greens. I really enjoy that challenge here. Fairway surfaces, green surfaces are money. I’m sure they’ll be able to speed these greens up as this wind dies down as the week goes on, and it’s in as good of shape as I remember seeing it.”
Spieth loves next week’s course, too – Augusta National Golf Club, home to the Masters. He has often and willingly talked about his fondness for the emerald gem that rolls through the Georgia Pines, how imagination, shot-making, and creativity on the perilous greens bring out the best in him.
He will be making his ninth start next week at Augusta National. In his first start, he tied for second in 2014, then won in record-tying fashion in 2015, then tied for second in 2016. He tied for 11th in 2017 and finished third in 2018.
Last year, after winning in San Antonio, he tied for third.
Jordan Spieth hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the second round of The Masters golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
His career scoring average of 70.32 in 32 rounds is the lowest in the Masters for anyone who has played at least 25 rounds; five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods has a 70.87 average.
His mind will wander to Georgia this week, he’ll hit shots needed for next week. But he certainly won’t neglect the task at hand in the Lone Star State.
“I want a 10‑day stretch of peaking from Thursday through the next Sunday, so I’m trying to save energy,” he said. “I did that a lot last year, too, and I felt like I was primed by Sunday. I’m just trying to do the exact same thing, which is not very different from any other week to week as well.
“I would say maybe a little bit more dialing on a couple shots, thinking about next week, and that could only help for this week.”
A small path off the 16th tee leads to a gnarled live oak. Ask any of the members about the area and a smile instantly comes to their faces.
SAN ANTONIO — The 16th tee box at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course sits perched with a stunning view of the green and the vast JW Marriott resort behind it.
The vista is so good, in fact, it’s the spot they’ve chosen to place a white Lexus — one waiting for any player at the Valero Texas Open to take it home with an ace on the 183-yard par 3. The area is a hub of activity due to a number of cabanas, a nearby fan shop and its proximity to the main entrance.
And when smaller-than-normal crowds follow names like Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler on this Central Texas course this week, they’ll shuffle past a small path just off the 16th tee that leads down behind a stunning, gnarled live oak.
For those with little knowledge of the course, it’s insignificant.
But ask any of the members about the area and a smile instantly comes to their faces.
“You mean the Sergio tees?” one member said on Thursday. “Trust me, we all know about the Sergio tees.”
A pair of courses sit in Cibolo Canyon, about 20 miles north of the famous Riverwalk. The Canyons Course — home of the PGA Tour Champions AT&T Championship from 2011 to 2015 — was designed by Pete Dye, who used Bruce Lietzke as his player consultant.
But the Oaks Course was designed by Greg Norman, in consultation with Sergio Garcia. At the time Norman was working through the project, Garcia was dating his daughter, Morgan-Leigh Norman. The two split up, however, before TPC San Antonio officially opened in 2010.
According to the urban legend told by members, Garcia was not extensively involved as the project neared completion, but one of his major contributions to the course was an alternate tee box on 16, which is still rudimentarily maintained, but never set up for live play.
A view from the alternate ‘Sergio tees’ off the 16th tee at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course. Sergio Garcia is said to have come up with the idea for the box, although it’s not used during the Valero Texas Open. (Photo by Tim Schmitt/Golfweek)
For those who play the course regularly, the Sergio tees often provide an added level of excitement.
“I’d say we only play over there one in every 20 times,” said member Aaron Imler of San Antonio, who has been a member of TPC San Antonio for eight years. “But if it’s a big-money game and we want to mix it up, we’ll use it. And it makes things interesting.”
The Sergio tees play over a pond (immaterial for Tour players) and a series of bunkers. It makes the hole considerably more difficult, even if it shortens things a bit.
“If the pin is on the left side of that green, the angle is really difficult,” Imler said. “There’s no way to get to it. You almost have to play right, take your medicine and try to make par.”
The Sergio tees have only been used once at the Valero Texas Open, during a single round of the 2010 event — the year the tournament ended a 15-year run at La Cantera Golf Club and moved to TPC San Antonio. Adam Scott won that year, holding off Fredrik Jacobson for the victory.
According to numerous people asked on Thursday, there are no plans to include the Sergio tees in any future event.
Imler, for one, thinks that’s a shame.
“They really should use them,” he said, while taking in the first round on Thursday. “The members would sure get a kick out of it, but it would also make things interesting for the players. They wouldn’t know where it’s going to be each day.”
